'Blood is thicker than water.'
A phrase that has been past around throughout the ages, reminding us that familial bonds will always be stronger than the bonds of friendship and dare I say, love.
A phrase that was also misquoted.
'The blood of the c...
"Boys get in here," Aunt Gina called as she walked into the house, soon her two sons Giovanni and Ares trailed in behind her.
The boys all felt their hearts warm when she walked in, she was their mothers sister and whenever she was around she kept her sisters memory alive. When you looked at her you saw Amalea, she has those same hazel eyes, with long brown hair that stood out against her olive skin tone.
However, their arrival was bittersweet because although they always came over during the holidays this visit was due to a painful memory that none of them wished it re-live.
Aunt Gina scanned the front of the house, her eyes lighting up in slight recognition when she saw Iris. She remembered the scarce pictures and videos her sister had sent whilst she was with Iris at the foster house. She remembered how excited Amalea was to adopt Iris.
The plan was always for Iris and Amalea to come back together; though life didn't always go the way we planned.
'She's grown so much,' Gina thought in her head, having only spoke once on the phone, she didn't want to bombard Iris with questions like do you remember me she'd rather save them both from the awkward conversation.
"Boys come and say hi to your aunt," Donatello called as he strolled past a confused Iris, Emiliano followed Donatello kissing his aunt on the cheek before taking her bags.
"Tago and Emilia will be coming in a few days they're just sorting something out with their businesses," Gina informed as she lifted Nario and kissed him on the cheek.
The boys came and said quick hellos before leaving, Giovanni left to find Dante whilst Ares went with Lorenzo, to the boys most of the cousins were just like siblings to them they were lucky that they had a close bond.
Once everyone had gone Iris made her way towards Gina to go and say hello, though she felt the nerves crawl up her skin and consume her entirely. She knew this was Amalea's sister, the resemblance was astounding, but this just added to the pressure.
Her thoughts started to play as she overthought; would Gina like her? what was she supposed to call her Aunt Gina or Gina? hug or hand shake? awkward smile or awkward laugh? did she like ducks?
'Breathe' she told herself as she tried to calm down.
She has to like ducks, everyone likes ducks. She told herself.
Am awkward smile grew on her face as she neared Gina, "Hi,"
"Hi sweetheart," Gina smiled eyes full of humour as she watched Iris approach seeming to have a battle with herself. "You've grown into a beautiful young girl,"
Iris smiled at the compliment, for one she was happy that Gina remembered her. However she was more happy at the fact that Gina called her a girl instead of a 'young lady' or 'young woman' she was probably reading too into it but girl seemed to have an innocence to it, some sort of youth.
She wanted to hold onto that youth, she didn't want to grow up to soon, she had missed out in so much of her childhood. More of the sad memories clouded over the good, she never really had the happiest childhood to look back on. She never wished to be a child again because they weren't the best of times.
So she intended to make better memories, happier times. She could be a young lady when she turned eighteen, probably twenty.
"You look exactly like her," Iris breathed out, realising what she had said she started to apologise, it could hurt knowing that you look almost identical to someone you wished to see again but knew you couldn't, "sorry I-"
"No, no it's fine," Gina smiled, "I like that I look like her, it's just another way of keeping her memory alive,"
"Gi-Aunt,"
Noticing her struggle she interrupted, "You can call me Gina if that makes you more comfortable, then if your ready you can call me Aunt Gina,"
Iris nodded whilst smiling before rocking back and forth on her heels.
"Well, I'm full of energy thanks to all the coffee I drank, do you need help with anything?"
"Any gossip," She finished off with a wink.
"Well, erm, I'm going on my first date,"
"Already, what are you going to wear?" She started as she started walking up the stairs.
Iris excitedly followed after Gina, she was glad she had another person to help aside from Emilio who tended to be slightly dramatic.
She clearly didn't know that Gina was worse.
As she went into her room she found Gina with her legs folded as she sat in the bed.
"You have nothing, absolutely nothing,"
Iris stared in disbelief at how quickly she had managed to sort through everything so quickly.
"You have clothes, not outfits." She declared.
"Are you sure, I'm sure we can find something,"
"Or, we could go shopping, my treat."
Iris smiled and nodded before running off to ask Donatello, who said yes and just made sure that her phone was charged so she could text if she needed anything.
She was more nervous about gong shopping with Gina then the actual date.
- x -
authors note: please, the amount of times I went back to the aesthetic to check who the characters were 😭✌🏾.
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